Faith Tabernacle

There
are very few congregations in Urhobo-Isoko
land called Faith Tabernacle. Agbarho is
the headquarters of the few congregations there are. Those connected with Agvarho
accept one T.G. Akporido as the founder.
In about 1940, Akporido, it was said, had
a vision in which a man presented him with books, and commissioned him
to go and preach. This happened at Ohrerhe
(Mogva) where they were all formerly members
of the C.M.S. After the vision Akporido
preached that no one was to put his trust in man, for health of spirit,
mind or body. The point of view he advocated was that true believers were
not to seek for health from medical practitioners or take any drug when
ill. Those convinced separated from the C.M.S. and with him formed the
Faith Tabernacle. Any of their members when ill, is asked to pray for himself.
Should the ailment deteriorate he should consult the elders. The elders
would sit around him and inquire from him of any sin he might have committed,
and having heard his confession, anoint him with oil and pray for him.[1]
This practice is based on James 5:13-16.

Apart
from Agbarho, a Faith Tabernacle congregation
had sprung up at Eku, introduced there by
one Iyedo. Iyedo, Okoro,
and Aganbi were contemporaries, and were
all of the C.M.S. In the mid twenties Aganbi
was in correspondence with some Americans. It was from the letters he got
from the united
States
that Iyedo got to know of the Faith Tabernacle,
which he started at Eku in 1926, while Aganbi
was introducing the BaptistChurch.

Iyedo
later worked hand with Akporido of Agbarho,
although there was no actual union of organisations.
Both branches were in touch with The Faith Tabernacle of America, with
headquarters in Philadelphia,
from where some members received weekly sermons. At the time of writing
the Eku branch has almost died out, while
from Agvarho have emanated branches of the
sect at Warri, OkpeUghievwe,
and Enhwen (in Isoko).
There were other branches of this church in Isoko,
some of which were later transmuted to ChristApostolicChurch.

The present Faith
Tabernacle churches have neither institutions, nor real leadership. The
total number of their members, estimated to be under a hundred, selected
one Ovuakporaye, and ordained him as their
pastor when Akporido died only in 1968.
In each branch under Agvarho, there are
head servants (Lay Readers or Catechists in the C.M.S.) From all available
data, the Faith Tabernacle Congregations in Urhobo
are a backwater organisation, maintaining
no link (apart from weekly sermons a few individuals receive from Philadelphia)
with any similar body either within or without Nigeria.

Methodists: 1942-1961

The
Methodist Mission was introduced to Sapele
only in the early forties. This happened when a number of men who had been
in the C.M.S. decided to secede, owing to alleged discrimination against
them. Most of them were from Sierra
Leone,GodCoast
(now Ghana),
and Yorubaland. They include T.H. Sam Tawiah, Kwenu
and Dadson, all Gold Coasters. With them
was J. Emade and Egharevba,
both of whom are Nigerians. Dissatisfied with the C.M.S. they decided to
desert her. In Dadson’s words:

“We
were with them (the C.M.S.) they did not give us full cooperation;

they
did not recognise our services, how they
served too we did not appreciate

it.
There was a small bit of dispute, disunity, that was why we decided to
bring

They
met in Emade’s house in 1942 and decided
on what denomination to introduce to Sapele.
As several of them had been connected with the Methodists at School in
their home country, when that denomination was suggested they readily accepted
the idea. A few Urhobo, like Omare,
started with them but soon dropped out because of opposition from the C.M.S.
One Egbedi, however, continued with them
as did H.A.G. Dickson, who pulled out of the R.C.M.

Akande,
who was still at Sapele, attempted to nip
the secession in the bud by writing to Lagos
to counter their delegation there.[3]
While Akande insisted that they were his
members, the dissidents supported their claim to be Methodists from their
early connection with that denomination during their school days when some
of them were baptised Methodists. Determined
as they were, they had their way and were from Lagos
directed to be included in Owo circuit.

But
no proper MethodistChurch
was started until 1947, the period from 1942 on being spent on holding
meetings, saving money, and attempting to get clearance for the work to
begin. When they did start, they met for worship in Rodico’s
School Hall, belonging to one Yamu. This
continued for over three years until a small church house was erected in
the compound of J. S. Sule, at one time
the headmaster of GovernmentSchool, Sapele.
At length they acquired land from the Sapele
Local Authority but this was later abandoned since the Town Planning Authority
constructed a street through it. It was Sule
who once more saved the situation by offering them free of charge a piece
of land on which the present MethodistChurch, Sapele,
along Yoruba
Road,
is erected.

Thereafter
their members increased. One Lamptey from
the Gold Coast (Ghana),
Coker a Sierra Leonian, and Monodu
a Nigerian with a Sierra Leonian wife,
joined them. So did Mason, and Major Jones. Jones was formerly of the Salvation
Army and had his training in the U.K.
He played a leading role, as did Atoboki,
the Society’s steward. At first the congregation which was almost entirely
made up of these men continued without receiving effective leadership from QwQ.
It was not, according to Dadson, until the
fifties, before they were visited by pastors from QwQ
who spent a week or two, and occasionally a month with them. A resident
Methodist Pastor did not come until after 1961. It was also at QwQ
that their representatives attended conventions, and from there they received
directives.

Apart
from this one methodist church at Sapele,
which is dominantly a foreigners’ church, and for which reason services
are generally conducted in English, there are hardly any other in Urhoboland
worthy of mention.

THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
1935-1961

Although the Jehovah’s
Witnesses do not usually regard themselves as Christians, preferring to
known as Bible students, a history of Christianity in Urhoboland
which says nothing of them will be incomplete.

Their
story in Urhoboland is largely the story
of a single man whose movement has made an impressive mark on a cross section
of Urhobo society. It is the story of J.
M. Orode, formerly also of the C.M.S. In
the twenties Orode was a teacher under
the C.M.S. at Ogba beech, five miles away
from Benin
City. While
he was there a certain Owempa of Ora,
a Jehovah’s Witness colporteur visited Benin
and Sapele in 1926, and preached. His preaching,
which Orode was not privilege to hear, was
reported to have been particularlypotent.
The them was on Sunday rest which he denounced as unbiblical doctrine.
In 1931, another man, M. Ukoli (later G.M. Urhobo)
also cam to Benin
to preach on a similar topic as Owempa had
done five years before. This time Orode
was present, and “I was greatly moved by what he said”.[4]’

Consequently
when next it was Orode’s turn to preach
in his station, he caused a stir by decrying the observance of Sunday unbiblical.
So perplexed was the pastor in charge that Orode
was cautioned to alter his tone of preaching if a schism was to be avoided.
Convinced as Orode was with this new biblical
discovery, he was not prepared to swerve an inch. His appointment was subsequently
terminated.

Various
attempts were made by his elder brother to secure him another job, amongst
others, as a court clerk, or an interpreter. But Orode
turned each and all of them down not only for fear of being corrupted by
his bosses and coworkers, and lured into receiving bribes, but also because
of preference for a job which would afford him time enough to preach his
message without hindrance. This was his foremost desire. Thus when another
senior brother sent him a telegram from Enugu
inviting him to Hope Waddell Institute for studies, he found himself constrained
to turn down the offer despite its attraction. His one passionate desire
then was to return to Urhoboland to preach.
But he had no means of transport from Benin.

The
opportunity to leave Benin
came when his Highness, OvieOharisi,
asked in 1931 for any young boy from the Ovie
family to serve as a court clerk. When this call came to Orode
he gladly accepted it as providing an opportunity for moving from Benin
homewards. Having been provided with a bicycle and five pounds, he purported
to set out for Ughelli. But he stopped at Warri
instead, and spent three full months with G. M. Urhobo
from whom he learnt all he could about the Jehovah’s Witness Society, no
member of which was as yet in the interior of Urhoboland. Warri
town itself had only four members.

Back
home, Orode traversed the Urhobo
country proclaiming the imminent arrival of Armageddon. His family members
attempted in vain to get him into a profitable job. The EgwareEkpako[5]
of the family was summoned on his account, where the elders, apparently
interested and concerned about his well-being, advised him to get married
and settle down to a profitable job. But his response put them off.

ThatEgwareEkpako
was summoned to discuss Orode’s marriage
showed how seriously the matter was viewed; that Orode
himself defied the EgwareEkpako
and persisted in his preaching showed equally how serious and deep rooted
his convictions were. There is even a story that the Ekpako
deliberately enticed him by throwing a beautiful girl in this path. At
length Orode was compelled to inform them
that he would not marry any one by a Jehovah’s Witness. The family thereafter
did find him a Jehovah’s Witness and even provided him with the money for
the marriage. But if they felt that marriage would diminish the temp of
his preaching, they were mistaken. It did not.

He
adamantly continued and was without any other profitable job until he heard
of one George JevuEgharen,
ofOvwian, a herbalist converted to the Jehovah’s
Witness Society. He was sent for by Orode
who taught him the Bible, and learnt from him his trade. This trade which
was abundantly blessed became Orode’s economic
mainstay. Meanwhile his Urhobo-wide preaching
had won hundreds of converts from the traditional religion, as well as
from other Christian denominations. In 1958 he was invited to the Society’s
headquarters in New
York, a
visit which deepened his knowledge of the Society, and equipped him for
his ministry in Urhobo.

Content of
the Preaching

The emphasis of
the preaching has always been on the imminence of the parousis
designated by them Armageddon, and viewed as a cataclysm in which all that
is opposed to God’s will would be annihilated and God’s Kingdom Society
inaugurated here on earth. To qualify for this new Kingdom one needed to
belong to the Jehovah’s Witness Society. As a result of the intensity of
their conviction about the imminent Armageddon, the Jehovah’s Witnesses
held rallies night and day, moved from house to house, from street to street,
form village to village, from town to town, and from clan to clan, persuading
and convincing people with a tenacity of purpose, which, even if misguided,
is commendable.

In
consequence of their conviction of the imminent Armageddon they stood (and
still stand) opposed to acquisition of wealth, and indeed to nearly all
things material. Secularisation has no place
in their theology. The world and all that is in it, including every secular
government, is of the devil, and to be eschewed, since it will be consigned
to fire and final destruction. The other denominations, in coming to terms
with the secular governments, show themselves agents of the devil, and
therefore stand condemned as teaching wrong doctrines, and misguiding the
people.

After
the eclipse of the sun on Tuesday,
2nd May 1947,
the Jehovah’s Witnesses poured into all villages and towns in Urhobo,
declaring that the Armageddon which they had been proclaiming was already
here. They had always indulged in the practice of mapping out future events,
and fixing dates when the end of the world would be. They believe that
it is for them to know times and seasons which the Father has fixed by
His own authority. (Acts 1:20)
At the time of writing, the end of the world is put to them at 1975, for
which reason many of them fail to send their children to school. Similarly
they have refused to build houses, or plant rubber trees at a time in Urhobo
when many people cultivated lands and owned large rubber plantations.

Their
preaching is based only on work, work of a particular kind-a declaration
from place to place of an approaching doom, from which people need to flee
by becoming Jehovah’s Witnesses. They thus aptly see themselves as members
of the Watch Tower Society, the imagery being derived from Ezekiel
33, where the sentinel owes it as a duty to be awake and warn the people
of oncoming destruction. Their preaching can therefore hardly be call Evangelion,
devoid, as it is, of any good news. They seem to know nothing of salvation
by grace, and give no room in their message for the atoning work of Christ,
whom they are unprepared to accept as divine, and whose co-eternity with
the Father is rejected outright. The doctrine of the Triune God is repudiated
by them as devilish.

Inconsistencies

In Urhoboland
the Jehovah’s Witnesses initially accepted polygamy as a Biblical and therefore
acceptable practice. But later this position was altered with a consequent
split in the movement. Thence came the God’s Kingdom Society as a distinct
movement. This latter body was under the direction of G.M. Urhobo,
with their headquarters at Warri at a place
designated SalemCity.[6]

At
first the Jehovah’s Witnesses also stigmatized other denominations for
erecting church buildings. A house could not be built for God, they argued,
citing 1 Kings 8:27 as a supporting text for their view. Later, however,
they themselves deviated from this position, and embarked on building church
houses with the appellation “Kingdom Hall”.

Equally
inconsistent were they in their teaching on Urhobo
greeting. Traditionally a junior person said Migueo
to an elder as a mark of respect to him. This act, if properly carried
out, takes the form of kneeling down before one’s elder, that being the
literal meaning of Migueo. If done
hastily, however, it takes the form of genuflecting, or simply uttering
the word. But the Jehovah’s Witnesses initially stood opposed to the expression
of this greeting in all its forms,[7]
and supported their stance by reference to Rev. 22:8&9. This and many
other aspects of their doctrine were based on a one-sided interpretation
of scriptures. During the fifties after returning from one of their conferences
(when Orode returned from the Unites States),
they grew wiser and realised that no spiritual
worship was implied in the practice-an argument which they had refused
to accept from members of other denominations.

Organization

The Jehovah’s Witnesses
seldom have paid officials, except for a few full-time workers for whom
the Society gives money for clothes and travelling
expenses. If a full-time officer becomes married, his wife is also looked
after by the Society. But once children are born to the marriage the officer
is requested to do the job part-time, and take up another appointment to
provide for his family.[8]

From
the Headquarters the Society is organised
into zones, branches, districts, circuits, congregations, units, and rendezvous.
There are, for instance, as many as seven circuits in Urhobo-Ijo
land. Each circuit is made up of between eleven to twelve congregations,
whilst there or so circuits form a district. In big cities or towns, the
Society has officers known as city servants, who are directly in charge
of the general organisation of the society
in their area. Ughelli, for example, has Orode
as the city servant. With the tireless efforts of these servants and their
congregation members Jehovah’s Witness membership increased rapidly between
1945 and 1961. By the latter date they were about 400 strong in Ughelli
area alone, which was roughly one quarter of her total membership in Urhobo.
But heir influence on non-members has always been minimal since it is a
closed system whose adherents often decline participation in family meetings,
or cultural gathering. Consequently apart from refining their own members
through regular, pedantic, and studious if superficial, reading of the
Bible, cross fertilisation of cultures has
not resulted from their presence in the society.

Finally
it needs to be mentioned that their one-sided view of scriptures not withstanding,
their tenacity of purpose and fanaticism have endeared them to many who
admire their otherworldiness without attempting
to copy them. They have been able at the risk of inviting persecution to
stand over against the world, rather than compromise with any facet of
it.

God’s Kingdom Society:
1934-1961

God’s Kingdom Society,
with its present headquarters at SalemCity, Warri
was founded by G.M. Urhobo (a sone
ofUkoli_ from Agbarha
in Warri. He was resident in Lagos
“as a postal clerk and telegraphist”[9]
and in his time belonged to the elite class. But, according to own testimony
quoted below, he saw a vision which impelled him to resign his lucrative
and enviable appointment in February, 1933, and turn a preacher. The account
of his vision which resulted in the momentous decision reads:

Consequent
upon his resignation, his wife, who became apprehensive of what the future
held in store for them, deserted him. G.M. Urhobo
looked after the children in addition to the lectures he gave on street
corners and in various public places in Lagos.
Before the lectures he would write notices on conspicuous corners of Lagos,
inviting everyone to come to his chosen venue in the open streets at a
fixed time. Hardly anyone took notice of him; but the few curious person
who on passing by were attracted, became moved by his addresses.[11]

WhenUrhobo
came across the publications of J. F. Rutherford, he was impressed by the
expositions of scripture they contained, which he believed were consonant
with own understanding of the Bible. Consequently in October 1934, he came
in contact in Lagos
with late W.R. Brown, the local representative of the Watch Tower Society
in Nigeria. Urhobo
soon became an agent for the Watch Tower Society under Brown. He collected
publications from Brown and sold them to members of the public and returned
the money to Brown, whenever it was paid to him.[12]

But
not long after their meeting, Urhobo was
said to have discovered “errors in the teachings of the Watch Tower Society
in respect of ‘Marriage’, ‘Jehovah’s Organisation’,
Leadership’, ‘Memorial Supper’, Women Preaching’ and their fixing dates
for ‘Armageddon’[13]
While the Jehovah’s Witnesses at this time declared their support for monogamy
as the only proper marriage for their members, Urhobo
held that polygamy was as acceptable to God as monogamy.

With
regards to “Jehovah’s Witnesses” teaching that any member of their society
was a Jehovah’s witness, Urhobo disagreed.
He maintained that only the prophets and specially anointed persons were
Jehovah’s witnesses, Jesus Christ being the chief of Jehovah’s witnesses.[14]He
equally disagreed with the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ teaching that only 144,000
persons would enter Heaven, as he did with the doctrine that no man was
to be accepted as leader, when in fact they recognised
Rutherford, their president then, as leader. When Urhobo
pointed out to Brown what he considered to be wrong teaching, the latter
was said to have accused Urhobo of vying
for leadership. Urhobo was consequently
declared as an enemy of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The result was the emergence
of God’s Kingdom Society. Those who accepted Urhobo’s
point of view followed him to form God’s Kingdom Society at the end of
1934. When he died on February
25, 1952, one e. R. Otomewo,
who was the vice-president, became the president.

Doctrine

Although the God’s
Kingdom Society differs in some of its teachings from the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
it is still very similar in other respects. Like the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
they are unitarians. While claiming to
accept the divinity of Christ, they hold with Arius
that there was when he was not. According to them, God (the Father) was
from eternity but created the Word (His Word?) in the beginning of creation.
Having created the Word the latter became God’s agent in creation. Jesus
Christ is said to be a god, as is Lucifer, and as indeed are men. An excerpt
from one of their sermons reads:

The doctrine of
Trinity has no biblical basis-it is false.

We agree that
the Father is God and the son is a god but in no place in the Bible is
the Holy

Spirit
referred to as a god. Apart from the Son, Jesus, there are other

creatures
both in heaven and on earth who are also gods but they, including

Jesus
Christ, are all subject to the Father. in the Psalms it is written: “Ye
are

gods;
and all of you are children of the Most High.” (Psalm 82:6) Thus the

Having taken this
position, it is not to be wondered at that they have little to say about
the Atonement. For the full divinity of Jesus and identity of his substance
with the Father cannot be denied without playing down the Atonement. It
was because of whom he was (and is) that he could do what he did since
only one who was identical in substance with the Father could fully redeem
fallen man.

The
members also claim to be able to locate heave, viewed by them as a place.
Heave, according to them, is far above the firmaments, and there God dwells.
The Kingdom
of God
of which they claim to be a society, is designated Kingdom
of Heaven
also because, according to Tietie, the headquarters
of the Kingdom is sited in Heaven. This Kingdom, the Society holds, was
established only after the 1914-18 war. Thus when Jesus taught his disciples
to pray for the coming of the Kingdom it had not yet arrived. Majority
of the people to be admitted into the Kingdom will, we are told, inherit
it here on earth, while only a few will go to heave, the headquarters.

Like
several other sects, they reject infant Baptism, on the ground that it
lacks Biblical precedence. Like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, they hold that
only those who belong to their society wherever it exists or, where it
does not exist, those who belong to a society which holds the same views
with them, will enter the Kingdom of God.[16]

By
1961, they were already commanding a large following all over Urhoboland.
They have made some commendable efforts by composing their songs generally
to Urhobo music, and so making good use
of what is proper in Urhobo culture in their
services. Furthermore they hold elaborate annual conventions in which the
various cultures of IjQ, Western Ibo, Isoko,
and Urhobo are richly blended, and which
in many respects are remarkably reminiscent of Urhobo
annual festivals, and to some degree of early Christianity in Urhoboland.
But whether it is this phenomenon which holds the adherents spell-bound,
or whether the doctrines really appeal to them as genuine and as guaranteeing
security in this world and in the next, is difficult to ascertain. It is
known however that the members were tithed, and they seemed to have paid
this happily, a thing which redounded to the wealth and glory of G.M. Urhobo
while he lived. That the members did this gladly, and that the bulk of
the membership was Urhobo and Isoko
may be accounted for by much of the indigenous culture that was “baptised”
into this Movement. For finding themselves at home in the church services
in which Urhobo music and dances like opiri
and udje were given prominence,
the Urhobo and Isoko
were not only attracted but freely gave of their wealth to promote the
Movement.

Conclusion

The rise of different
denominations has as its results competition and rivalries which were often
bitter and unhealthy. But in spite of this, there was no reverse to traditional
religion. Indeed division and competition tended to make for growth and
yielded great dividends. These various denominations, in addition to the
C.M.S. in Urhoboland, meant a considerable
dwarfing of the indigenous culture. The denominations usually introduced
schools to which the youth gravitated. As the youths attended church and
school, they tended to be separated from their traditional cultural connections
and heritage.

The
churches themselves struggled to attain some self-knowledge, particularly
in the Nigerianisation, orUrhobonisation
of the personnel. With respect to other aspects of indigenisation,
say of the liturgy, ver little happened.
But this discussion, especially as it affects the C.M.S. and the Baptists,
must be left for the next chapter.

[2]
Interview with E.B. Dadson, a foundatin
member of Sapele Methodist, c. 75, at Sapele, 10
April 1971.

[3]
There was a kind of gentleman’s agreement between the Methodists and the
C.M.S., namely that the one organisatin
should not interfere in an area where the other was already operating.

[4]
Interview with J.M. Orode, aged 60, at Otovwodo, 8
September 1970. Amongst the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Urhobo,
he is regarded as one of the 144,000 who alsone
will inherit the Kingdom of heaven, while the rest of the society member
shall inherit the earth. For this reason he is considered to be the only
one worthy to participate in the feast of the paschal lamb (the Holy Communion).

[7]
it is significant to mention here that traditional priests in Urhobo,
as well as Roman Catholic Rev. Fathers, do not use this form of greeting
to their elders, whose spiritual fathers they consider themselves to be.